Elaine Low at the Ankler is discussing the modern absolute dependence on SHARE VALUE in connection with the writers strike.
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Broadly, the sense is that the town cares what investors and bankers think far more than it did over 15 years ago, the last time the writers put their collective foot down.
At the start of the work stoppage in early May, one showrunner — who was around for the 2007-08 WGA strike — told me that “It’s about the whole corporate dominance of America. We never talked about Wall Street in ’07. Now it’s all about the stock price, it’s all about the earnings calls.”
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2008 was the start of absolute Free Money (ZIRP and QE) which led to the current total dependence. Low counters with:
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I spent nearly five years in the 2010s as a reporter covering Wall Street and stocks and quarterly earnings calls, and I can tell you that corporate Hollywood has always cared what the Street thinks, particularly when shareholders were happy to reward a growth-at-all-costs, Peak TV, Netflix-chasing programming model.
But the sea change in the early 2020s seems to be that the money has an even tighter grip on every twist and turn in the Streaming Wars.
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But 2010 isn’t ALWAYS. 2010s were well into the Total Free Money era, so she isn’t really disagreeing with the statement that things were different in 2007.
Low also notes that the governor and mayor have been cautious in their approval of the strike, since governors and mayors in California also depend on the same tech tyrants as the entertainment industry. If Zuck is unhappy, Newsom is unhappy. If Bezos is unhappy, Inslee is unhappy.
She adds another note about the pre-SHAREVALUE era that distinguishes show biz from other jobs:
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“During the 2007 strike, while I was on the Council, you saw that the restaurants were hurting, the hairdressers and the dry cleaners. There are [indirect] consequences that add up. Those stories filter out and can push people to the table.”
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In other words, real businesses still mattered to some extent in 2007. But which real businesses? Hairdressers and dry cleaners.
Dry cleaning is rare now outside of NYC and LA and SF. Back in the ’50s when every man wore a suit and tie ALL THE TIME, dry cleaners were thriving everywhere.
My grandmother who grew up in NYC continued her NYC habits in Ponca. She found an NYC-style apartment with a servants entrance, she always used dry cleaners, always took taxis, and had a maid when she could afford it. She never used a washing machine. Her “dainties” didn’t go to the dry cleaner, she washed them in the bathtub.
Polistra's Mill 